DL Open Thread: Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024
55,000 Bibles. The Oklahoma Superintendent has ordered a Bible in every classroom. The RFP limits the Bible that must be purchased to, wait for it:
Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.
A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.
But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.
Mardel doesn’t carry the God Bless the U.S.A. Bible or another Bible that could meet the specifications, the We The People Bible, which was endorsed by Donald Trump Jr. It sells for $90.
“The RFP on its face seems fair, but with additional scrutiny, we can see there are very few Bibles on the market that would meet these criteria, and all of them have been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,” Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty said.
Kinda makes you wonder, has Lee Greenwood fallen on hard times as well?
Some (Temporary) Good News On Climate Regulation:
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to blocknew Biden administration rules requiring fossil-fuel-fired power plants to slash emissions of mercury and other toxic substances and oil and gas firms to curb methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from their operations.
The court has yet to act on an emergency request to block a plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants.
Nearly two dozen Republican-led states and a handful of power generators asked to pause the mercury rules, which were finalized in May, while litigation over them continues in lower courts. The challengers argue that the regulations impose heavy costs while providing negligible direct health benefits to the public; power plants must comply with them by July 2027.
Lawsuits like these are why the Caesar Rodney Institute exists. It’s all about the oil money..
Republican Legislator Tells Conspiracy Theorists To Just Stop:
A Republican senator in the North Carolina legislature has issued a public plea for people to stop spreading conspiracy theories about the disaster recovery efforts in areas ravaged by flooding from Hurricane Helene.
In a Thursday afternoon Facebook post, state Sen. Kevin Corbin, who represents the state’s westernmost area, asked his followers for a favor: “Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC.”
Corbin listed several examples: “FEMA is stealing money from donations, body bags ordered but government has denied, bodies not being buried, government is controlling the weather from Antarctica, government is trying to get lithium from WNC, stacks of bodies left at hospitals, and on and on and on.”
State Sen. Corbin said in his Facebook post that FEMA was on the scene, as were National Guard soldiers and power company workers. And he suggested that conspiracy theories have been harmful since they have taken up lawmakers’ time as they try to coordinate relief.
“Please don’t let these crazy stories consume you or have you continually contact your elected officials to see if they are true,” Corbin wrote, adding that one of his senate colleagues had received 15 calls on Thursday asking him to stop a variety of nefarious plots. “I’m growing a bit weary of intentional distractions from the main job …. which is to help our citizens in need.”
Gee, wonder what RWNJ is gearing up to primary him in 2026…
The Two Men Who Engineered The Electoral System In Favor Of Rethugs. One, Leonard Leo, you know. The other, you should:
Two men recognized and exploited the anti-democratic loopholes within America’s rickety democracy in order to deliver Republicans victories that they could never win at the ballot box.
Now their willfully minoritarian creations threaten the very essence of a representative democracy: if Donald Trump, rightwing courts, gerrymandered state legislatures and an extreme Republican caucus in the US House of Representatives create constitutional chaos over the certification of this presidential election, two men cleared the path.
The single-minded determination of Leonard Leo built a conservative supermajority on the US supreme court and stacked lower and state courts with Republican ideologues that have pushed the nation to the right via the least accountable branch of government.
Chris Jankowski masterminded the partisan gerrymanders that tilted state legislatures and congressional delegations across the south and the purple midwest toward extreme Republicans, ended Barack Obama’s second term before it started, and rendered elections in Wisconsin and North Carolina all but meaningless over the last decade and a half.
Leo and Jankowski understood, separately, that the courts and state legislatures were undervalued and often undefended targets for a deliberate strategy aimed at capturing important levers of power that sometimes float under the radar. They could be Moneyball-ed, to borrow the term Michael Lewis used in his book about how the Oakland A’s made an end-run around large-market teams by understanding value that their opponents overlooked.
A lengthy article, well worth reading.
John Carney–Still An Asshole. It may have gone unnoticed, but Carney refused to sign Paul Baumbach’s HB 377, the bill requiring ‘the State (to) continue to offer eligible pensioners first employed by the State as a regular officer or employee (first employed) before January 1, 2025, a plan that is comparable to the current Special Medicfill Medicare Supplement plan. It went into effect on October 1 without his signature. Before anyone gives him credit for not vetoing it outright, remember that the bill passed unanimously in both houses. You can bet that the House and Senate would have returned lickety-split to override that veto. I’m serious when I warn employees and retirees of the City Of Wilmington to beware of Carney looking to cut your benefits and to screw you. It’s what he believes and it’s what he’s tried to do.
What do you want to talk about?
BHL And The Congos: Grifters Of A Feather:
https://spotlightdelaware.org/2024/10/04/wilmington-forecloses-congo-center/
Carney and more then a few others beg the question will we ever learn, history suggest that no, we will not. But that’s also the reason why the rest of us must keep fighting, turds do not flush themselves, we must at least pull the handle.
Well said.
No our country will never learn beacuse of you haven’t noticed half the country are F’ing idiots
Greetings from the country, you are preaching to the choir.
As an idiot myself I can’t help that I was born cognitively challenged and constrained. I suspect many of my fellow idiots found themselves similarly challenged regardless of efforts to remedy their situation.
I know I am a fu’king idiot. just not sure what half of the country you are talking about
Has Monique Johns ever filed her 8 day?
Yes. Y’know, all you need to do is to go to the Department Of Elections site, click on Campaign Finance Reporting, click on View Filed Reports, and type the candidate’s name in.
You don’t need me to do that.
she filed it late and it was about as sketchy as her campaign ideas
I’ve seen far sketchier.
Which is not to defend her: Word on the street is that the developers and their lawyers are organizing a bundling party for her.
She will have been bought, and she’ll return the favor.
Monique will do anything for the holy dollar. It’s gona catch up to her soon.
Not anything. She appears to have been the only grifter NOT to have gotten $$’s from BHL’s Opioid Slush Fund.
Failure to investigate that scandal would be prosecutorial malpractice of the highest order.
She is not smart enough to have gotten in on the BHL scam in advance. Maybe Rev. Johns will actually get a physical location for the church. They got evicted from previous locations for non payment of rent. It will be interesting to see if anyone pays attention to the grift. If I was a developer I would steer clear she is too dumb.
Also let’s not forget she stole campaign literature from Kevin Hensley and was caught on camera. I haven’t canvassed much, but even I’ve noticed how many folks have freaking security cameras outside their doors.
I’ve heard the council might attempt to either get rid of the council president role or have the council elect amongst themselves, and I can see why that’s a good idea now.
Honestly, I get why people didn’t like Karen Hartley-Nagle, given how aggressive she could get at times, but I worry Monique Johns will be a downgrade. Hartley-Nagle actually did help at times to fight against developers and had some ideas to expand the notification zone for new potential development.
I don’t dislike KHN, I just don’t think stone-cold morons should hold elective office. I am, obviously, frequently disappointed.
Am I wrong to think we might have been better off if KHN had decided she wanted another term as council president?
To quote The Who:
“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Y’all are missing the benefit of electing her: After she fucks this up, she’ll be unelectable in the future. My evidence: Karen Hartley Nagle.
I bet we haven’t seen the last of KHN. How many years did she run before she finally won something? She’ll do it again.
Probably will. She’s like Colin Bonini, it’s not like she has something else to do.
I think we have.
She had the benefit of having one of Delaware best political minds inexplicably running her campaigns.
He was gone this time, and the results showed.
That doesn’t mean she won’t run again, it just means she won’t win.
I have heard KHL aspires to take Sarah McBride’s seat in the special election following resignation from the Senate after winning in November.
She’s making calls.
The Dems would never allow her the nomination, one would hope.
You mean KHN? No chance.
The name I’ve heard is a name that I think pretty much everybody here will like.
Yeah, Karen. Desperate now for future employment.
There won’t be a primary for the special. Pretty sure those who will choose the candidate will likely defer to Sarah. The name I’ve heard (I THINK I’m sworn to secrecy) is just fantastic.
Maybe she could rent out her empty head as warehouse space.